Where are the Vincent Gray supporters today?

[Anonymous]

Did he name himself? I don't know, but his parents aren't running for office, are they?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Well, he didn't pick his name and I couldn't care less who he was named after. Let's stick to issues that matter. That's like people refusing to vote for Obama because his middle name is "Hussein". Right now, I would vote for Muammar "Baby Doc" Marcos Pinochet if he would get the city heading in the right direction.

Fair enough. That being said he is definitely NOT the person to lead us in the right direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Well, he didn't pick his name and I couldn't care less who he was named after. Let's stick to issues that matter. That's like people refusing to vote for Obama because his middle name is "Hussein". Right now, I would vote for Muammar "Baby Doc" Marcos Pinochet if he would get the city heading in the right direction.

Fair enough. That being said he is definitely NOT the person to lead us in the right direction.

Sorry, PP here who implied you were an idiot. The fact that you think his parents' choice of name implies something about his character has removed all doubt: you are, in fact, an idiot. If you have an argument, let's hear it. Generally speaking, folks who read and post here on DCUM aren't complete morons, so you may need to raise your game a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Well, he didn't pick his name and I couldn't care less who he was named after. Let's stick to issues that matter. That's like people refusing to vote for Obama because his middle name is "Hussein". Right now, I would vote for Muammar "Baby Doc" Marcos Pinochet if he would get the city heading in the right direction.

Fair enough. That being said he is definitely NOT the person to lead us in the right direction.

Sorry, PP here who implied you were an idiot. The fact that you think his parents' choice of name implies something about his character has removed all doubt: you are, in fact, an idiot. If you have an argument, let's hear it. Generally speaking, folks who read and post here on DCUM aren't complete morons, so you may need to raise your game a bit.

Look the name is just an added bonus for me. This is a guy who can't make his mind up on taxes, and now he's trying to do anything to get rid of his competitors. Who are you? his wife?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Well, he didn't pick his name and I couldn't care less who he was named after. Let's stick to issues that matter. That's like people refusing to vote for Obama because his middle name is "Hussein". Right now, I would vote for Muammar "Baby Doc" Marcos Pinochet if he would get the city heading in the right direction.

Fair enough. That being said he is definitely NOT the person to lead us in the right direction.

Sorry, PP here who implied you were an idiot. The fact that you think his parents' choice of name implies something about his character has removed all doubt: you are, in fact, an idiot. If you have an argument, let's hear it. Generally speaking, folks who read and post here on DCUM aren't complete morons, so you may need to raise your game a bit.

Look the name is just an added bonus for me. This is a guy who can't make his mind up on taxes, and now he's trying to do anything to get rid of his competitors. Who are you? his wife?

See, now that wasn't so hard! You're 1/3 of the way to an actual argument.

I freely admit I don't know much about Biddle. I'm willing to be persuaded. But I've got zero patience for fatuous arguments about exotic names and such.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
I freely admit I don't know much about Biddle. I'm willing to be persuaded. But I've got zero patience for fatuous arguments about exotic names and such.

I've known Biddle casually for a few years. I like him and think that under ordinary circumstances he would be a great council member. If you search this forum, you will uncover posts by me singing his praises. But, these are not ordinary circumstances. We have nearly one-party rule in this city and our experience in the first two months of the Gray/Brown era is not promising. I believe we need someone who will be independent and not simply go along to get along. Biddle may be the most "establishment" candidate in history. Just look at these facts:

1) His campaign manager is Fenty's old campaign manager (or at least top political strategist);
2) He won the State Democratic Committee vote only after intense arm twisting by Kwame Brown (with assistance from Harry Thomas and Marion Barry);
3) He has been strongly endorsed by Vince Gray;
4) His challenge of Mara, Weaver, and Patterson's petitions was drafted by Ben Soto, Fenty's campaign treasurer;
5) Today he received the endorsement of the SEIU which has historically endorsed incumbents (which Biddle now is) and to which Lindenfeld (his campaign manager) has close ties;
6) Take a look at his most recent financial report here: "http://www.ocf.dc.gov/pdf_files/EFS_generated/PCC_11_160_5971_O_0_1.pdf". Look at from whom he is raising money. This is the same establishment pattern. Lots of LLCs. Keep in mind, most of the big guys will not contribute until the very end so that their names don't show up on reports like this until much later. He is vastly out-raising his opponents, most of whom reported less than $10,000 while he is over $50,000. He is writing a lot of IOUs.
7) His petition challenges are ridiculous. He challenged Weaver's wife. He challenged one of his own staff members. He challenged Mayor Fenty, Mayor Williams, former CM Kathy Patterson, and even Kwame Brown's brother. These challenges may succeed, but clearly one purpose was to keep the campaigns bogged down trying to win the challenges so harm will be done even if the challenges fail. How can the candidates fundraise when their places on the ballot are in doubt?

He is an inside guy playing an inside game. How he managed to unite both the Fenty and Gray wings of the party is beyond me, but that's not the sign of someone who will shake things up. That's the sign of someone that nobody sees as a threat.

Right now, we need someone who will be a threat. Someone who won't stand for business as usual. Someone who is not the establishment's man.

[Anonymous]

Hey Jeff, do you know if Catania is partial to any of the candidates. If so, who?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Hey Jeff, do you know if Catania is partial to any of the candidates. If so, who?

I haven't heard, but the way things are going, he is probably a Biddle supporter

[Anonymous]

At this point I'm thinking Patterson or Weaver, but there are several I have not seen at all. I'm heading for Austermuhle's site right now to see if I can learn some more. I appreciate the info I've seen on here; keep it coming.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:At this point I'm thinking Patterson or Weaver, but there are several I have not seen at all. I'm heading for Austermuhle's site right now to see if I can learn some more. I appreciate the info I've seen on here; keep it coming.

The nominating petitions of both Patterson and Weaver have been protested. I believe Patterson has two protests against his. Weaver's are protested by Biddle. However, Biddle's challenge wasn't filled out correctly. If Weaver can get the challenge thrown out, maybe he won't have a challenge against him. But, if all the challenges succeed, Biddle won't have any strong challengers. Josh Lopez will be the strongest and he has no money.

[Anonymous]

I like Bryan Weaver. I voted for him against Jim Graham in the Ward One primary. He's a parent with kids in charter schools--so he understands the issues facing the majority of DC parents who are not fortunate enough to live WOTP. He runs a non-profit which works with at-risk teens, so he has an in-depth understanding of those issues, and unlike a lot of the DC bureaucracy "friends & families" version of non-profits---where the bureaucrats funnel city funds to non-profits created and run by their cronies who pocket all the money as "overhead", Bryan actually tries to accomplish the mission for which his non-profit was created.

I'm not a campaign worker for Bryan. Just a voter who thinks he is honest and smart and would be a big improvement over what's there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At this point I'm thinking Patterson or Weaver, but there are several I have not seen at all. I'm heading for Austermuhle's site right now to see if I can learn some more. I appreciate the info I've seen on here; keep it coming.

Along with a lot of stuff about the challenges, Austermuhle has a twitter history (is that called an @history?) of the G'town Safeway Forum: http://martinaustermuhle.com/four26/?p=355#more-355

Hey Jeff, maybe you ought to move these 4/26 comments to a new thread in case there are folks out there missing them because they are not interested in a thread started to dump on VG.

[Anonymous]

I am a very dissappointed Gray supporter. I work for the City and really hated Fenty. No, I am not in a union, but I thought he really mismanaged education funds and don't miss him. However, I think we need a Mayor who is young, but ethical. Fenty over corrected with the young people. You truly had people who had no idea what they were doing. Gray is going back to the old government folks more than I expected.